Prime Minister

Rural Development
Fellowship
April 7th to May 11th 2012,
Training Report

Prime Ministers Rural Development Fellowship is a shortterm work opportunity for young professionals to serve in
underdeveloped districts and interface with the poor.

PRIME MINISTERS RURAL DEVELOPMENT FELLOWS PROGRAM

COHORT 1
Training Program [April 7th to May 11th 2012]
Introduction:
There is a growing realization that the development deficit and rights of the people in the IAP
districts cannot be addressed without a special drive for transformation of local
administration into an empathetic development administration. This requires rigorous efforts
to understand the community and its socio-cultural and political structure, local economy and
its linkages, and relationship of the political and executive machinery with the community.
Above all, it requires weaving relationships among all the important actors in a way that the
disaffection and discontent are addressed effectively. Creating a deep sense of empathy in the
administration for the poorer and marginalised sections of the population is a sine qua non for
democratic governance. Moreover, the district administration needs strong support in
improving the planning process, refurbishing the implementation machinery and monitoring
of results, and influencing government decisions for quick redressal when necessary.
However, one of the key problems encountered in such a reform process from below is the
lack of capacity of district administration who would be leading the change process. To
catalyze this reform process and trigger actions, which would lead to the outcomes, one
strategy to be adopted, is to place high quality additional human resources to leverage support
to the reform process, infuse optimism, instil confidence among key stakeholders, and
provide appropriate inputs in decision making of the district leadership. These high quality
human resources inducted in the form of young professionals - women and men termed as
Prime Ministers Rural Development Fellows (PMRDF). The fellows are expected to
facilitate improved understanding between the district administration and the poor by their
work at the grassroots and assistance to the district administration. The fellowship will also
provide opportunity to them to build their capacity by getting hands-on experience in the
development process in difficult areas.
The Prime Ministers Rural Development Fellows Program was formally inaugurated on
April 7th 2012 in APARD, Hyderabad. The program was launched by the Ministry of Rural
Development, Government of India (MoRD, GoI), with an objective of creating opportunities
3

for young professionals to engage with people living in the most difficult and development
deprived districts of the country. Seventy-eight Integrated Action Plan (IAP) districts were
selected from nine states, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. In all, 147 fellows have
already been placed as PMRDFs in 78 districts.
Orientation training for the PMRDFs:
PMRDF seeks to identify, assess, select and empower some of the brightest and most
committed young people of this country to facilitate development and to ensure that welfare
programs reach the right people. The idea is to bridge the gap between planning and execution
and to build opportunities for young people to come forward and contribute to society. The
fellowship offers a platform to bright young professionals to commit a significant period,
three years of their life, to the development of the 78 Integrated Action Plan (IAP) districts.
Considering the uniqueness of the task and the role they are envisaged to play as PMRDFs,
three core components are required in the fellows:
I.
II.
III.

Domain knowledge of development processes

Skills to work with people living in difficult areas and conditions
As well as the attitude and belief that people are capable of making a change.

The first cohort involved a challenging task of training 104 fellows 1and pay adequate
attention to all three components. The efforts faculty time and mentoring to address the
needs of individuals and groups were tremendous.

Annexure I - The list of 104 fellows with their State and district allocation

Table 1: Duration of Training First cohort of PMRDFs with Pedagogical details

Total days of training

: 60 Days

Dates of training

: April 7th to 9th June 2012

Total days of Classroom Trainings

: 33 Days

Dates of Classroom training

: 8th April to 10th May 2012

Total days of Field Immersion

: 14th May to 9th June 2012

Dates of Field Immersion

: 27 Days (excluding travel time)

Total days of Assessment of the PMRDFs

: 03 Days

Dates of Assessment

: 12, 13, 14 June 2012

of the PMRDFs

The training included 5 weeks of Classroom Training, and four weeks of Field
Immersion. The field component included a three day Orientation at the State level (by the
State officials) followed by a three day Orientation at the District level (by the district
administration), a three day exposure at the Block level by the block level functionaries, and
ten to twelve days of work at the Village level. The field immersion at the villages provided
an opportunity for the PMRDFs to understand rural life and field realities by living through it
and interacting with different stakeholders.
Objectives of the Orientation training are to:
1.

Enhance the knowledge domain for the participants with academic inputs through
participatory processes.

2.

Enhance the skill domain for the participants through workshop and peer learning
processes.

3.

Provide a stimulating environment and inputs for the participants to enhance their
personal attributes as part of the training process.

4.

Learn to be conscious towards field realities, and be able to connect the academic
concepts with the existing reality in a non-judgmental and unbiased way that further
leads to affirmative action.

First
Cohort
at a glance:

Figure 1: Gender Representation among PMRFDs

Figure 1 shows the Gender composition of the first cohort of PMRDF fellows. Of the 104
fellows, there are 74%males (77) and 26%female fellows (27).

Figure 2: Social Category among PMRDFs

Figure 2 represents the presence of PMRDFs fellows in different Social Categories. It shows
that majority of the fellows i.e., 52% (54) belong to the General Category. Around 13%
(14) of the fellows comes from the OBC Category whereas 25% (26) from SC Category
and only 10% (10) from SC Category.

Figure 3: State wise (Origin) Distribution of PMRDFs

Figure 3, shows that 104 fellows in the first cohort represent 13 different states and union
territories of India. The representation of fellows is explained in the ascending order. The
highest numbers of fellows are from Orissa with a strength of 24. 12 fellows represent
Jharkhand ; 10 fellows each are from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh ; 9 each represent
Bihar and Madhya Pradesh ; 7 fellows represent Maharashtra ; 5 fellows represent West
Bengal ; 4 fellows each represent Rajasthan and Delhi ; 3 fellows represent Gujarat ; 2
fellows represent Kerala and Uttaranchal ; 1 fellow each come from Chattisgarh, Jammu and
Kashmir, Karnataka and Punjab . [This analysis is based on the information provided by the
candidates regarding their native place (hometown)].

Figure 4: Graduate and Post-Graduate PMRDFs

Figure 4, reflects the educational qualification of the fellows i.e., Graduation and PostGraduation . Data shows that there are 23 fellows (22%) who have completed their
graduation whereas a majority i.e. 80 fellows (78%) have completed their post-graduation. Of
the 23 (22%) graduate fellows, 21 fellows (20%) have done Engineering 2 fellows (2%)
have done Medicine . Similarly, out of 80 fellows (78%) with post graduation, around 39
fellows (37%) have a Management background; another 33 fellows (31%) are from the
Social Sciences and the rest 8 fellows (8%) from a Pure Science background.

Figure 5: Social Category and Educational details of PMRDFs

Further analysis of the educational qualifications with the social background of the fellows
shows (Figure 5) that of the 54 fellows belonging to the General Category 15 come with an
engineering background. 13 each have done Social Sciences and Management, 4 fellows
have done

Engineering with Management

where as another 4 fellows have studied

Engineering with Science ; 2 have a Pure Sciences background, 1 has done Medicine while
another has done Medicine as well as Management and 1fellow has done Engineering and
Social Sciences .
While analysing the educational background of the 14 fellows who belong to the OBC
category, it emerged that 6 come with Social Sciences degree, 4 have done Management,1
has done Engineering ; 2 fellows have studied Medicine as well as Social Sciences and
another fellow has done Engineering and Management .
From the figure, it can be seen that there of the 26 fellows from the SC category , 7 fellows
are from the Social Sciences background; 5 come with an Engineering degree, 5 have
studied

Management, 3 have done

Engineering

and

Management ; 2 have studied

Medicine and Management and one fellow has a pure medical background. Another fellow
has done Engineering and Science, one has studied Law and Social Sciences ; and one has
a Science background.

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There are 10 ST fellows in this cohort, of which 3 have studied Social Sciences, 5 have a
Management degree, 1 fellow has done Engineering and Management and 1 has an
Engineering background.

Figure 6: Gender and Educational details of PMRDFs:

Figure 6 highlights the educational attainment by gender. The figure shows that of the 77
Male fellows, 20 have a Social Science background. 17 have an Engineering degree and the
same numbers have a Management background. Another 7 fellows have a degree both from
Engineering and Management. Similarly, 5 fellows have a degree from both Engineering
and Sciences. 3 of the male candidates are from Pure Sciences; 1 fellow from
Engineering and Social Sciences and 2 fellows

each are from Medicine and

Management, Medicine and Social Sciences; and only Medicine. 1 fellow has a degree
in Law and Social Sciences.
Similarly, a deeper analysis of 27 female fellows shows that 9 of them have studied Social
Sciences; 10 have a Management degree; 5 have done Engineering. Another 2 have done
Engineering and Management and 1 has a Medicine and Management background.

11

Figure 7: PMRDFs Work Experience (Yrs)

The above figure represents the work experience of PMRDF fellows. The Y-axis represents
the strength of the fellows and X-axis represents the interval in years. From the above
figure, it can be easily analyzed that out of total 104 fellows, only 4 fellows do not have any
experience. Thus, 100 fellows come with a work experience in their respective fields. As per
the figure, majority of the fellows i.e., 54 have experience in the range of 1 -2 years; 33
fellows in the range of 2 -3 fellows; 9 fellows have work experience in the range of 3 4
years and 4 fellows in the range of 4 -5 years.

The diverse background of the fellows brings to the fore, the fact that the fellowship has been
able to attract a diverse group equipped with differential skills to contribute towards the
program. With a representation of fellows from 13 states, different social backgrounds, a wide
educational background and both genders. It also elucidates the fact that the training
pedagogy should be such that it collates this wide diversity, enhances the knowledge base of
each candidate and yet bring this diverse group on a common platform so as to enable each
one to take up challenges in the field.

12

Orientation Training of PMRDFs

Self-assessment of Competency
Pre Training Competency Analysis
The PMRDF fellows were asked to fill a schedule2 to undertake a self-assessment of their
competency3 on knowledge, skills and personal attributes before and after the training. The
Pre and Post training scores gives a fair idea about the success or failure of a training
program. Scores are obtained on several parameters of each variable, which has been factored
in the analysis.
Self-Assessment of Competencies
Introduction:
The training for the first batch of the PMRD Fellows began after the inaugural of the program
on 7th April 2012. On 8th April, the Fellows were asked to fill a schedule (Annexure-II) to
undertake a self-assessment of their competency on Knowledge, Skills and Personal
Attribute.
The curriculum framework for their training had taken into consideration the need to build
knowledge on a wide range of subjects such as democracy, rights, development, society,
cultures, identities, inequality, poverty and development. It also exhaustively covered
information on various flagship programmes of the government. The training also equipped
the fellows with skills related to data analysis, participatory methodologies and micro
planning skills in the training period.
The competency on each of the questions was self-scored by the Fellows at three levels
(Level 1 = know little and needs more inputs; Level 2 = I am Proficient and Level 3 =
Proficient and can coach others). Therefore, for each of the domains of competency a lower
score indicates lower levels of competency and a higher score indicates higher level of
competency.

Knowledge domain

2
3

Annexure ii Schedule for Self Assessment of Competency

Competency refers to the ingredients (Knowledge, Skills and Personal Attributes) that contribute to excellence

13

The scores on the knowledge competency level revealed that 48% rated themselves poorly
and a mere 3% felt that they were excellent . Interestingly about 49% felt they were good on
the knowledge component which covered areas such constitution, rights, democracy, flagship
programmes, budgets, development practitioners skills. Thus this defined the knowledge
component of the training component to strengthen the fellows competency and capacity to
deliver in the field. The training programme thus was designed to address this felt need and
the related information to bolster the skill requirements of the Fellows.

Figure 8: Percentage Distribution of Knowledge Domain

The minimum and maximum knowledge scores Fellows have are 6 and 14 respectively as
against a possible minimum and maximum scores limit of 6 and 18. The calculated mean
score is 7.3 indicates that majority of the fellows have rated lower knowledge scores for
themselves though the variation is high.

Skills Domain
The scores on the skills domain were much stronger than those on the knowledge domain.
The Fellows when asked to rate their competencies in the use of computers, data analysis and
on a wide spectrum communication skills, a majority rated themselves high on these
parameters.

Despite this the training placed emphasis on building data analysis and

interpretation skills through hands on exposure to Wizmap software (GIS based) and district

14

level data sets. The Fellows group work and one of the assessments was based on group work
and presentations.

Figure 9: Percentage Distribution of Skills Domain

Figure 9 shows that none of the Fellows rate themselves as Poor in the Skills domain. It is
evident that majority of the Fellows i.e., 58% self-assessed themselves as Good on skills
parameters whereas the remaining 42% rated themselves as Excellent. The minimum and
maximum knowledge scores are 8 and 21. The mean score is 13.8, which indicates that the
fellows have evaluated themselves with high levels of skills score. However, it was felt that
the wide diversity in the educational background and work experience would have exposed
the fellows to diverse levels of the skills mentioned above. So while the fellows in their own
assessment may be good/excellent on some basic computer packages, data analysis software
and communications skills they could be lacking in the key identified areas for the PMRDF.
The most appreciated component in this domain was simulation of real life situations such as
the gram sabha, the health worker challenges, meeting in the district office etc. Thus, the
training concentrated on specifics in this domain, which the fellows later shared how it
helped them contextualise their skills level realistically.

Personal Attributes Domain:

The personal attributes domain includes perseverance, patience, organizing, planning etc.
Interestingly like the skills domain most of the fellows rated themselves high and felt
competent in this domain. However, the training programme had two rounds (a total of 5
15

days) of team building sessions in small groups. The personality attributes and behavioural
patterns of the fellows especially the ones that fall on both the end of the spectrum in terms of
their behaviour (low self-confidence on the one end and over-confidence on the other end)
was closely observed. The patterns of behaviour and levels of preparedness of the fellows to
handle difficult and uncertain contexts/ terrains and amenability to work with the government
administration were studied by the faculty undertaking the training. This was an
exceptionally intensive training and it involved the training team giving individual feedback
to the fellows.

Figure 10: Percentage Distribution of Personal Attributes Domain

Figure 10 shows the percent distribution of the personal attribute of the fellows. As seen in
the figure only 11% of the fellows rated themselves as Poor, majority of them i.e., 64% selfassessed themselves as Good and 25% rated as Excellent. The minimum and maximum
scores are 11 and 21. The mean score is 17.8, which indicate that the fellows have rated
themselves quite high on personal attributes score. The training however exposed the entire
group to the multiple explanations of these attributes, the need to understand perception of
others on these attributes and the variance in receiving behaviour on these attributes. Each of
the fellows interestingly shared that they were intrigued by the depth of attributes that one has
to have to be able to interact responsibly with all stakeholders in the field.

16

Figure 11: Grades of PMRDFs

Figure 11 reveals the grades assigned grades as per the total score obtained by them. The total
scores is the sum of the all scores obtained on the parameters of Knowledge domain, Skills
domain and Personal Attributes Score. The scores were divided into three levels. Fellows in
Level A score more than 41; Level B scores between 36 40 and Level C scores less than
36.Thus in the final summation about 38% of the fellows got an A grade, 39% scored
between 36-40, thus got the grade B and only 23% of the fellows scored a C .

17

Annexure I
List of 104 fellows with their State and district allocation

S.No. ID No.

Name of Fellow

State

District

9344

Anantha Krishnan R K

Andhra Pradesh

Adilabad

10511

Sekhar Rayaprolu

Andhra Pradesh

Adilabad

3112

Rajendra Kondepati

Andhra Pradesh

East Godavari

10901

R Ramesh Reddy

Andhra Pradesh

East Godavari

8487

Vamsi Krishna Nukala

Andhra Pradesh

Karimnagar

9267

Narendar Garidi

Andhra Pradesh

Karimnagar

10686

Suresh Babu Ghattamaneni

Andhra Pradesh

Khammam

10372

Pooja B.V.

Andhra Pradesh

Srikakulam

7056

Harsha Chiruvella

Andhra Pradesh

Vijayanagaram

10

5595

Chetan Yarlagadda

Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam

11

7732

Bala Krishna Reddy Kesari

Andhra Pradesh

Visakhapatnam

12

7735

Shyam Sunder Rao Damala

Andhra Pradesh

Warangal

13

11085

Bethi Madhu

Andhra Pradesh

Warangal

14

11042

Pankaj Kumar Rai

Bihar

Arwal

15

1369

Namrata Vilochan

Bihar

Aurangabad

16

10277

Shashi Karn Prasad Akela

Bihar

Aurangabad

18

17

9634

Kshovan Guha

Bihar

Gaya

18

10766

Amrita K

Bihar

Gaya

19

6848

Shravan Jha

Bihar

Jamui

20

2230

Priyanka Kumari

Bihar

Jehanabad

21

9548

Avinash Tiwari

Bihar

Kaimur

22

10874

Ravi Dhanuka

Bihar

Munger

23

11392

Deepak Kumar

Bihar

Nawada

24

6642

Mansi Kaushik

Bihar

Rohtas

25

2220

Shikha Singh

Chhattisgarh

Baster

26

6791

Shrish Kalyani

Chhattisgarh

Dantewada

27

9957

Ajitendra Kumar

Chhattisgarh

Sukma

28

2508

Anurag Deep Pathak

Chhattisgarh

Jashpur

29

8041

Pramod Kalekar

Chhattisgarh

Kabeerdham

30

8689

Lalit Pankaj

Chhattisgarh

Koria

31

8902

Priyanka Yadav

Chhattisgarh

Kanker

32

10169

Akshay Kapur

Chhattisgarh

Narayanpur

33

11216

Preshit Ambade

Chhattisgarh

Rajnandgaon

34

9483

Satish Tajne

Chhattisgarh

Surguja

35

11234

Rajeev Kumar

Chhattisgarh

Balrampur

19

36

11363

Mayur Gupta

Chhattisgarh

Kondagaon

37

353

Tariq Wani

Jharkhand

East Singhbhum

38

7307

Rajeev Ranjan

Jharkhand

East Singhbhum

39

419

Shila Matang

Jharkhand

Khunti

40

8506

Belmati Jonko

Jharkhand

Khunti

41

4548

Vivekanand Gautam

Jharkhand

Koderma

42

11117

Ashwin Prasad

Jharkhand

Koderma

43

5771

Shradha Bhagat

Jharkhand

Lohardaga

44

7706

Jayanti Kujur

Jharkhand

Lohardaga

45

7015

Arvind Lakra

Jharkhand

Palamau

46

8633

Akshay Kashyap

Jharkhand

Palamau

47

7527

Sweta

Jharkhand

Ramgarh

48

10727

Vaibhav Maheshwari

Jharkhand

Ramgarh

49

7653

Amit Valmiki

Jharkhand

Bokaro

50

10073

Neelanjali Kumar

Jharkhand

Bokaro

51

8718

Srikant Purwar

Jharkhand

Gumla

52

10598

Rajeev Ranjan

Jharkhand

Gumla

53

9264

Vinod Chandrwal

Jharkhand

Hazaribagh

54

11231

Mohd. Karimuddin Malik

Jharkhand

Hazaribagh

20

55

9384

Dipti Kindo

Jharkhand

Ranchi (Rural)

56

10006

Nilanjana Moitra

Jharkhand

Ranchi (Rural)

57

10379

Nitin Shukla

Jharkhand

Saraikela

58

11110

Mayank Lodha

Jharkhand

Saraikela

59

10963

Rejani Pavithran

Madhya Pradesh

Sahdol

60

11225

Rajesh Singh

Madhya Pradesh

Sahdol

61

8254

Arti Mishra

Madhya Pradesh

Balaghat

62

9748

Katha Kartiki

Madhya Pradesh

Balaghat

63

3531

Sushma Taywade

Madhya Pradesh

Mandla

64

8405

Neha Gupta

Madhya Pradesh

Mandla

65

5487

Rekha Singh

Madhya Pradesh

Seoni

66

46

Chiragkumar Solanki

Madhya Pradesh

Sidhi

67

9368

Bhagwat Ahirwar

Madhya Pradesh

Umariya

68

9838

Sourav Dutta

Madhya Pradesh

Dindori

69

11422

Neeraj Ahuja

Madhya Pradesh

Anuppur

70

7986

Mahesh Raut

Maharashtra

Gadchiroli

71

9410

Priya Tayde

Maharashtra

Gadchiroli

72

8804

Vijaykumar Tate

Maharashtra

Gondia

73

1927

Saumya Ranjan Nath

Odisha

Kandhamal

21

74

2962

Nivedita Mohanty

Odisha

Kandhamal

75

5900

Prabeena Kumar Bebarta

Odisha

Gajapati

76

7511

Prakash Sahoo

Odisha

Gajapati

77

2976

Sudhir Kumar Halba

Odisha

Rayagada

78

5954

Devan Kumar Kuda

Odisha

Rayagada

79

6360

Rashmi Rout

Odisha

Mayurbhanj

80

7506

Kumar Shubhashish

Odisha

Mayurbhanj

81

9126

Nirlipta Mohanty

Odisha

Mayurbhanj

82

2447

Swapna Sucharita

Odisha

Balangir

83

9505

Raj kumar Gupta

Odisha

Balangir

84

7699

Anuranajan Minz

Odisha

Nowrangpur

85

8833

Aliva Das

Odisha

Nowrangpur

86

8576

Anil Sharma

Odisha

Kalahandi

87

10550

Ajit Nayak

Odisha

Kalahandi

88

8861

Rahul Daspattanaik

Odisha

Sundargarh

89

10611

Laxmidhar Singh

Odisha

Sundargarh

90

2328

Alok Kumar Mahapatra

Odisha

Sambalpur

91

9265

Nilamadhab Digal

Odisha

Sambalpur

92

9271

Soumyashree Omprakash Sahoo

Odisha

Koraput

22

93

9456

Kuldip Gyaneswar

Odisha

Koraput

94

10491

Anup Kumar Giri

Odisha

Malkanagiri

95

10573

Pandaba Charan Munda

Odisha

Keonjhar

96

10790

Chandrasekhar Bhuyan

Odisha

Keonjhar

97

1309

Vareender Komal

Uttar Pradesh

Chandoli

98

9309

Vineet Kumar Singh

Uttar Pradesh

Chandoli

99

1599

Annu Singh

Uttar Pradesh

Mirzapur

100

7006

Sandeep Kumar Gautam

Uttar Pradesh

Mirzapur

101

7508

Om Prakash Paswan

Uttar Pradesh

Sonbhadra

102

7830

Kavindra Kulkarni

Uttar Pradesh

Sonbhadra

103

2345

Animesh Ghosh

West Bengal

Puruliya

104

10557

Sayantan Sarkar

West Bengal

Bankura

23

Annexure II
Prime Minister Rural Development Fellowship
[July 9th to September 14th, 2012]
Self-assessment of Competency

Please take a few minutes to reflect and respond to the questions below. These questions refer
to your assessment of competency that is needed for this training programme.
Competency refers to the ingredients (knowledge, skills, and traits) that contribute to
excellence.
The purpose of doing this self-assessment is not to evaluate you on the basis of what you
indicate, but to form groups on the basis of different attributes of competency so that you can
learn from each other and can help each other.
Please read the following and place a tick (/) at the level that you think applies to you.
S. No.
Competency areas

Level 1
Know little but
need more inputs

Knowledge of the following

1.
Govt. policies and
programs
2.
Their (govt.) rules of
operations
3.
Structure of
administration
4.
Budgets
5.
Indian Constitution
6.
Indicators of monitoring
and evaluation of
programs
Skills
7.
Basic computer skills
8.
Statistical software
packages
9.
Databases
Communication
10.
Ability to speak English
and Hindi fluently
11.
Ability to write English
and Hindi
12.
Ability to make
presentations (oral)
13.
Communication: Ability
to make presentations
(ppt)

24

Level 2
Am
proficient

Level 3
Proficient and can
coach others

Traits
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

Good

Satisfactory

Adaptability
Sensitivity
Persistence
Organizing & Planning
Persuasive
Appraising others
Decisiveness

Any other details:

Name:
Date:

V.N. Purav Marg, Deonar, Mumbai 400088

http://www.tiss.edu

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